July 06, 2010

The problems of anonymous internet trolls making every forum a radioactive wasteland if mean-spirited gibberish grow more pressing every day. The New York Times and Boston.com have published op-eds wondering what the fuck is wrong with you people, that you have to be so mean and stupid and racist in the comments. Columnists have quit the Sf Chronicle over the frankly insane level of hatred spewed at them. It's a problem.
Anonymity has always been at the root of this issue. With anonymity comes a freedom from responsibility, a freedom from social pressures. The World of Warcraft forums have been only barely usable for years now, due to people who seem to think the actual game part of WoW is making other users cry. The attrition rate of forum moderators has been awful To combat all this, the Powers That Be at Blizzard are turning on everyone's real names on the forums. It's a last minute attempt to force people to play nice. I hope it works.
Official forum changes, real life names to be displayed

The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.
The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players -- however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven't been connected before. With this change, you'll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well.

One of the more revealing examples of the mainstream media’s laughable claims of “objectivity” came in a Sunday Washington Post story about what lies ahead for the U.S. economy.
Written by Frank Ahrens, the story cited Paul Krugman saying, as paraphrased by Ahrens, that “we’re in for a long period of high unemployment and deflationary contraction, with wages falling and businesses failing. Krugman draws comparisons to the Great Depression, to be sure, but also sends us to our history books to remember the Long Depression that began with the Panic of 1873, saying the coming depression will be more like that one.”
But Ahrens felt it necessary to offer two disclosures about Krugman, including this:
When you read Krugman on economics, you need to read him through a filter. He believes that the $787 billion government stimulus approved last year was not enough to really kick-start the economy and that much more is needed. You can correctly read many of his columns — including this one — as arguments for more taxpayer-funded stimulus. So just know that.
Oddly, Ahrens didn’t feel any sort of “disclosure” was necessary when quoting Peter Boockvar, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak whose remarks were far more political than anything Krugman offered.
. . .

July 05, 2010

Barrett was passing through Union Station from Whitby, clad in his 85-pound scale armour, when he was “thrown into a bench” and held at gunpoint while officers dumped out his backpack — also on display Tuesday — and rifled through its contents, he said.
Among the items taken from him after more than an hour of detention were his armour, two shields, a round buckler, foam maces, a foam flail and five arrows that had their points taken off and padded “so that they’re safe enough for 13-year-old and 14-year-old kids to play with.”
Given the sensitivity of the weekend, police confiscated the items and told Barrett he could retrieve them from a warehouse on Tuesday.
“I woke up yesterday morning and I had players as far as Texas leaving me messages on my voicemail saying, ‘Dude, all of your stuff is on TV, they’re saying it’s all terrorist weapons,’” Barrett said.
“There’s a big stigma that I’m a nerd, I’m going outside dressed as a knight from the 15th century, wearing authentic armour and carrying foam weapons and shields,” Barrett said. “Now I’m going to have to deal with the stigma of being the violent nerdy guy who’s going to go around and break windows and smash banks because he’s angry at the government.”